That journalism is a high-risk vocation is an established fact the world over, in India, especially in states such as Uttar Pradesh, the risk is a daily chance almost all journalists take even when commenting on news from the state. The risks and threats come in many forms and legal actions such as FIRs are initiated against reporters, yet some journalists like Masihuzzama Ansari, take a brave decision to share their experience with the world before it is too late.

The Delhi-based journalist who hails from Uttar Pradesh realised he was at ‘risk’ of becoming a headline himself, while reporting on the disputed “evictions” of Muslim families near Gorakhanath Temple in Gorakhpur. He called the District Magistrate for the official version of the district administration and instead was asked his religion, told to rise above it and allegedly threatened with arrest. 

Ansari, is a sub-editor at India Tomorrow news portal. He told SabrangIndia, he feared for his safety now and has written to the National Human Right Commission (NHRC), Press Council of India, Press Club, and the Editors Guild of India, to intervene before it is too late.

Ansari, called Gorakhpur DM K Vijayendra Pandian on the phone to get the official position on  the staus of ‘eviction notice’ given to 11 Muslim families, who claim they were allegedly asked to vacate their homes located near the Gorakhnath temple.  Instead, he was allegedly asked his religion by the IAS officer, who after figuring out the reporter was a Muslim, alleged he was spreading rumours, encouring Hindu-Muslim divide and he can be booked under the IT act. An audio said to be of that teleconversation shows that a person is impling the caller was biased due to his religion. The respondent’s tone changed when he established that the caller was a reporter named ‘Ansari’. According to some reports. Ansari was even told that he could be booked under the draconian National Security Act (NSA). SabrangIndia spoke to Ansari recently to understand how a reporter, doing his job, and counter checking information is still at risk of becoming the subject of a news report himself, and is still vulnerable to the state taking action against him.

How did you hear of the ‘eviction consent’ the Muslim families are said to have signed?

My contacts at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, had called me and told me some families had got what to them seemed like an eviction consent notice and they were troubled. These families said they have lived in the area for many generations, well over a century, and signed the ‘sarkari paper’ under duress but they really don’t want to move.  I asked them to share the June 2 notice, and saw that it did not have any official department’s name, but merely said it was a “consent letter” that stated that the families were ‘willingly vacating their homes for the sake of the security arrangements for the Gorakhpur temple’. I know the area well, in the past the roads have been widened around the temple, some homes were demolished then too but they all got proper notices and compensation. However this ‘consent’ letter on plain paper was seen for the first time by anyone. I spoke to the families and they were scared, they told me they signed out of fear.   

How are so many Muslim families settled there?

I also asked that question and was told that the land had been “donated by nawab Asad Ud Daula” and that the families had lived there for over a century now. These families now run small businesses to survive, there are only a couple of them who have a proper education, the rest are just simple folks now scared of official action. But till now, they were never disturbed because they were Muslims, the locals said. A couple of Muslims even said in earlier times they have even gone to the temple festivities, or sought advice on small disputes. And Hindus sought similar advice from the local Maulana when needed. 

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath is the Mahant of the Gorakhnath temple, was there any issue earlier? 

There was no Hindu-Muslim problem here. Now they feel scared, even though some already signed the ‘consent letter’ and added their phone numbers as asked.  Administrative officials visited and told the locals that the police camp needs to be built and they will have to move. Their houses do not come in the way of the proposed camp, said locals. Since June 2 when the barely literate men signed on the ‘document’ they are still not sure what awaits them. They told me the SDM had also visited the area and told the residents they had to vacate the place and come for discussions to the Tehsil. The locals, even those who had signed, say they are clueless on what the local administrator will do next. They told me they were scared and that their names should not be revealed in any reports. Finally only a couple of them agreed to speak on record, and shared the documents. I reported what they said on record. The men had signed the document, but the women were upset and did not want to leave the ancestral homes they are emotionally attached to. I suspected the legality of the consent letter and decided to call the DM saheb to ask him what it was all about.

Why did the officer then lash out at you as alleged?

He told me to report ‘fairly’ and not as a Muslim. I called as a reporter to get the government’s version of what was being alleged by the locals in Gorakhpur. The DM said I was trying to spread rumours, and create enmity between Hindus and Muslims. He insisted that the families living near the Gorakhpur temple were willingly handing over their land and homes to the authorities, as the issue was of the safety of the temple. However, said the so-called agreement was not on any official paper nor did it have any official seal or signature. I had spoken to the families who said they were scared and were forced to sign the so-called consent letter. The paper looked fake to me and I had called the DM to get a clarification on the issue. However, the DM threatened me with legal action, if I were to continue reporting on this issue. His tone and words to me confirmed that the ‘consent’ paper had been sent by the department itself. But the DM said I should “rise above” my religion when reporting and whoever publishes the report, will be jailed…, that i am breaching their [the families] privacy…They have consented to move…. Etc. The locals had told me they were not even allowed to read what the ‘consent’ letter stated and were just told to sign quickly. Those who brought the paper were all government officials, said the locals.

Why did the DM ask your religion? How does your being Muslim matter? 

I did not call him as a Hindu or Muslim. I called him a journalist. I called the families again after speaking to the DM who had also told me he had some ‘documents’ from the locals and I should check again. The locals told me that the officials had come again for more to sign the documents. However by then the residents found some courage and refused to sign anymore. They told me they asked for a legal notice to which they will reply. 

Do you feel threatened in any way?

Yes. I have, as a journalist, called many officials in the past to confirm or verify news before reporting. No one has responded like this. I was shocked that an official spoke this way, normally an officer does not talk like this even if they are angry. This Hindu-Muslim angle of conversation is usually one used by politicians, not government officials. The DM said he will take action against me under the IT Act. If I was to spread a rumour would I have called the DM for clarification and his version? I would have just filed the report when I got the information in the morning. I tried to get the government version all day, and spoke to the DM by evening. 

Did you get any further calls from the administration?

No, I did not get any such calls. When reporting I spoke to local politicians also, and they wanted to stay anonymous but confirmed that the affected families were very scared now. 

You felt threatened, what actions did you take next?

I have filed a complaint with the National Human Right Commission (NHRC), because there are many who study journalism and they too will be spoken to like this in the future if I do not complain. I want them to know there is a law in place that officials cannot threaten journalists. I wrote to the Press Council of India and to the Editors Guild of India, Press Club. I was also told by my sources that some ‘process has been initiated’, I then saw it in the Al Jazeera report as well. My wife and I live alone and are vulnerable, I have not approached the police yet. I hail from Uttar Pradesh and know the area well. 

There have been reports of targeting of journalists in Uttar Pradesh during Covid surge. What do you think is happening?

No administration wants to see or hear any reports that are critical of them. Journalists have to be muted, and in fact even local politicians are now scared of speaking up against the UP government. A local leader told me he was scared of the NSA being slapped on him if he commented anything critical of the government actions. This DM has threatened a journalist and also made disparaging comments on me being biased because I was Muslim. Look at what has happened with Sidique Kappan when he went to report from Hathras.

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The post You are a Ansari, rise above your religion: Gorakhpur DM to journalist appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As many as 11 families, all hailing from the minority community, have been allegedly asked to vacate their homes located near the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, reveals a shocking report in The Quint. The families were all made to sign “consent letters” saying that they would willingly vacate their homes to enable better security arrangements around the temple.

Land surrounding the temple, of which Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath is incidentally the chief Mahant (priest), is being acquired by the UP government purportedly to build a police booth. The Gorakhnath temple complex is spread over 52 acres. According to The Wire, there is a police booth inside the temple complex and a police station is located near the temple’s main gate. It I salso noteworthy that surrounding areas such as Naurangabad, Zahidabad, Purana Gorakhpur, Humayunpur and Rasulpur are predominantly inhabited by Muslim families, most of whom are traditionally engaged in weaving and allied activities.

According to The Quint, the ‘consent letter’ says, “In the surrounding of Gorakhpur temple, keeping in mind the security, the administration has decided that in the southeast side of the temple in Tappa town in the Sadar area, the people named below will give our land to the state government and our signature stands as proof for the same. We have no objections to giving our land away. Please find enclosed signature below.”

However, some families told media persons that they had been pressured into signing the letter.

71-year-old Javed Akhter, a retired engineer with the Indian Railways, told Al Jazeera that Gorakhpur district officials including policemen visited his house and took measurements. They handed him a letter signed by a few other families and asked him to sign as well. “The officials told us that if we do not sign the letter, they have other ways to get our signatures as well. We were pressured,” he said.  

Meanwhile, 70-year-old Musheer Ahmed told The Quint that only Muslim families were asked to sign the letter as there were no homes owned by Hindu families in the area. “No Hindu family has a house here. Only 11 Muslim families had to sign it. We have been living here for over 125 years,” he said lamenting he had nowhere else to go.  

However, Gorakhpur District Magistrate (DM) Vijyendra Pandian rubbished claims that people were made to sign the letter under duress. He told The Quint, “Where are we putting pressure on them? This entire process is in a nascent stage. These men have signed on their own and initiated these proceedings.” He further said, “They are getting a good quantum of money, running into crores of rupees, which is why they signed and they are also getting an alternative piece of land. The entire process is in a preliminary stage so the quantum of money was only informally communicated as it is not supposed to be disclosed in the media. Now they are playing politics.”

Meanwhile, Shahnawaz Alam, president of the state minority cell released an audio recording of the DM allegedly accusing Masihuzzama Ansari, a staff correspondent with India Tomorrow of falsely adding a communal hue to the story, “Please leave your religion behind when you report. Why are you spreading false information?” He then goes on to say that people spreading false information will be charged under the National Security Act.

अपनी नहीं तो अपने पद और गोरखनाथ जी की गरिमा का खयाल रखें योगी जी |
पत्रकार को एनएसए लगाने की धमकी देने वाले गोरखपुर डीएम का ऑडियो किया जारी
बिना सहमति के जबरन मुसलमानों की जमींन छीनने का मामला |@INCUttarPradesh@priyankagandhi@ShayarImran@TirangaBhaiya
https://t.co/BvNCuB8Lli

— Shahnawaz Alam (@UPkaAlam) June 4, 2021

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The post Were minority community families asked to vacate homes near Gorakhnath temple? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Watch Dr Khan open up like never before to Teesta Setalvad – third part of a 4 part interview.

In this interview, Dr. Kafeel Khan talks about being released from jail and how he was convinced about the fact that what the government was doing is not good for the country. “They are hitting at India’s soul” he says. He goes on to talk about how, when growing up one would here people saying that India is a place where everyone be it a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai could live together, how he decorates his home during Diwali, how he plays with colours during Holi how he has visited Haridwar. But, in the last five, ten years things have changed. The Government is responsible for spreading hatred and violence. “All this is going to affect the integrity of this nation. Will generations to come want to live in this India?” he says.

He wrote a strong letter after being released from jail, which stated that all those who were responsible for the deaths of children in the BRD Medical College incident must be questoned and punished. Where is the justice for those children who died that day?

Here are some facts of the day his brother, Kashif Jameel was shot at. Gorakhnath temple is a high security area, the Chief Minister was present on that day (10th of June). His brother had just offered Namaz and was heading to Bata to buy their mother a pair of slippers. On his way back, two men on a scooter, came out of nowhere and shot at him. He fell and started running. The two men followed him and shot at him two more times. He says, “if they had shot at him a forth time then he would have died.”

The post “If they had shot at him a fourth time then he would have died”: Dr Kafeel Khan (Part 3) appeared first on SabrangIndia.

What happened in the eastern Uttar Pradesh town was not a conflict but violence unleashed by MP Yogi Adityanath and his henchmen 

If one tries to understand the developments in Gorakhpur and its neighbouring areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh (Poorvanchal) from January 26 to 31, 2007 through the eyes of the print and electronic media, one moves further away from the truth. It is a sordid story of a highly communalised media conjuring up a riot, collaborating with BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, a Bal Thackeray clone and heir to the Gorakhnath Peeth operating from the Gorakhnath temple. Adityanath is a BJP MP for ‘technical’ reasons and cares a damn for the niceties of party discipline because he knows that the party cannot dissociate itself from him. Though he mocked the party by holding a Vishwa Hindu Maha Sammelan at the same time as the BJP’s National Council meet in Lucknow, the party did not mind. It had earlier swallowed the defeat of its candidate in the Assembly election by Adityanath’s candidate. One should know that he is a Thakur; and a Thakur heads the BJP now. The Thakur spread across party lines ensures that Adityanath is allowed to have his own way in his fiefdom, i.e. Poorvanchal. He makes it a point to give calls for a Gorakhpur bandh whenever the chief minister visits the town.

Also read: “Kill 10 Muslims for Murder of Every Hindu” – Among CM Yogi Adityanath’s Choicest Words

'Poorvanchal mein rahan hai to Yogi-Yogi kahna hoga' (You have to chant Yogi’s name if you want to live in Poorvanchal) is a slogan popularised by his gang. But how true is the claim of his hold on Gorakhpur, leave alone Poorvanchal? He has lost all local elections held recently in and around Gorakhpur, and could only manage to lure the relatively respected Samajwadi Party (SP) member and mayoral candidate Anju Chaudhary to his side.

Apparently, Chaudhary fell a victim to the myth spun around him during the last 15 years. Adityanath has been called the Yuvak Hindu Samrat, Narendra Modi of Poorvanchal, the premier of the Hindu Rashtra of Poorvanchal. He has used the wealth of the Gorakhnath Temple to sustain his army of lumpen youth. Adityanath has followed the RSS methodology in creating organisations with different names that he calls cultural bodies. Among these are Hindu Yuva Vahini, Sri Ram Shakti Prakoshtha, Gorakhnath Purvanchal Vikas Manch, Hindu Mahasabha and Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh. Adityanath himself is the main functionary of these unregistered outfits. He also controls much of the functioning of the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Jagran Manch. He holds his durbar in his temple that is attended by local police and officials.

Adityanath has perfected his technique of manufacturing riots. An insignificant incident like a Hindu’s clothes getting stained accidentally by the paan spat by a Muslim is turned into an act of humiliation of Hindus. A rape in which the victim is dalit and the perpetrator Muslim is used to substantiate the allegation that “Muslims rape our women” and all hell is let loose on the Muslims. The last 11 years are witness to several such acts. No criminal case has been registered against him except once in 1999 when a case was registered against him in Maharajganj after the killing of the official gunman accompanying sp leader Talat Aziz. The police and administration have remained mute spectators with the political leadership looking the other way. All this has given him an air of invincibility. Muslims have been given to understand that neither the Bahujan Samaj Party, nor the sp is willing to rein him in. Perhaps the SP is seeking to counter Mayawati’s Brahmin card with its own Thakur card by indulging him. The Congress is nowhere and also lacks a will to take him on. All this leaves the Muslims here with no option but to resign themselves to their fate.

This time, however, his plans went awry. On the night of January 26-27, Pankaj Rai, a history-sheeter, and his gang chased a dance party performing at a marriage. They mingled with a Muharram procession and the processionists thought that they were being attacked. Suddenly a gunshot was heard, which the then administration thinks was Rai’s act. As panic set in, more people — both Hindu and Muslim — were beaten up and a young man, Raj Kumar Agrahari, was badly injured and hospitalised. The District Magistrate (DM) was informed at 1.30am and he told officials to brief Adityanath that he should not visit the site. Initially, the MP agreed. But as Agrahari died, Adityanath declared that now he would go to the spot and seek revenge for the killing of a Hindu by Muslims. He reached the spot with his lumpen who destroyed a mazhar. He declared his resolve to ensure justice for the Hindus, swords were flashed before the dm and senior police officers. Short of policemen, the administration tried to persuade the MP to vacate the place but he didn’t budge.

When the now-determined dm took the dagger away from a goon, they charged towards him and demanded the dagger back. Upon this, the dm ordered the police to disperse them by force. Suddenly the MP found himself facing a situation that was not in the script. Afraid that the lathis might find Adityanath, his well-wishers cried out for compromise. The MP demanded that curfew be imposed and withdrew. Though the dm didn’t think a curfew was required as the violence was designed to disrupt Muharram, he agreed to the MP’s demand.

Later, however, Adityanath announced a torchlight procession. The administration succeeded in preventing it from moving but it was captured on camera and a non-procession was turned into one by the willing media. Emboldened, he announced a Shraddhanjali Sabha the next day at the town’s busiest crossroad. By this time, the dm had resolved not to allow it any further as the police reinforcements were in. He issued orders that no meeting was to be allowed and that any violator was to be arrested. With unambiguous orders, the police moved. Adityanath dismissed the warning as a hollow threat but landed in an unforeseen situation.

He and his ‘followers’ were taken to the police line. Soon, a police van arrived and the detained people were asked to board the jail-bound vehicle. Adityanath jumped into the bus, declaring that he cannot leave his followers. To their surprise, the bus started moving and they realised that they were in trouble. The three-km journey to the jail took more than 90 minutes as his goons pelted stones and every other means to block the van but to no avail. For the first time in his life, Adityanath is jailed under Section 151A of the crpc only to find later that he has also been booked under Sections 146, 147, 279, 506 of the Indian Penal Code for leading the attack on the mazaar (grave). On the strength of this fir, Adityanath is remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

On January 29, his followers assembled at Gorakhnath Temple that falls in an area where more than 50 percent of the population is Muslim. They start throwing stones and burning tyres in the direction of the Muslim locality and on the road. But there is no retaliation from the other side.

Dr Hari Om, the then dm in-charge, wishes to put it on record that not a single incident of slogan-shouting or stone-pelting was resorted to by Muslims. He wants the world to know that although much grieved by the decision to impose curfew as it hampered Muharram, the Muslims, led by the venerable Miyan saheb, assured the administration of all cooperation as peace was more important and kept their word. Meanwhile, the media kept screaming that Gorakhpur was burning, the walls of the Gorakhnath Temple were demolished. Which, of course, was a naked lie.

And all of a sudden, the district magistrate was informed that he’s been shunted along with the superintendent of police. As he moved away, Rashid, a Muslim youth, was killed. It is a matter of discussion in Gorakhpur that it was done by a Hindu Yuva Vahini man who injured himself to use it as a cover. Newspapers flashed the pictures of the Yuva Vahini man’s bandaged leg, obliterating the killing of Rashid altogether.

So where was the riot, as imagined by the interested media, asks Hari Om. From January 27 to 29, Adityanath and his goons laid siege to Gorakhpur without any provocation from Muslims. A mazhar was gutted, masjids and shops of Muslims destroyed, government properties damaged by the gangs, stone pelting on the police by his goons: do these make a perfect riot? A riot involves some degree of involvement of two warring groups. How is it that areas with substantial Muslim population did not experience any untoward incident barring the planned attacks of Adityanath’s gangs? Why did cm Mulayam Singh Yadav remove the officers who jailed the BJP MP who was hell-bent on destroying peace? Why did the officers’ successors go straight to Adityanath for forgiveness? Why did the media fail to report the facts as facts?

Hari Om has one regret — that he had assured Muslims that by giving a reprieve of 7-8 hours in the curfew on January 29, he would ensure that the Muharram tradition was not disturbed. However, the moment he was removed, Rashid was killed to celebrate it as Adityanath’s victory and the curfew was extended. Tazias remained where they were. The Muslims kept their word, he did not. This young officer has just one question for his country: can a community feel at home where it is prevented from even mourning by all kinds of machination? Can a community celebrate its existence in a country where law-keepers look over their shoulders when it is attacked? Such is the sad story of Uttar Pradesh, the truth of one of the many riots that were not.

• First published in Tehelka.com, Feb 17, 2007
• https://communalism.blogspot.in/2007/02/riot-manufactured-in-gorakhpur.html

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